Laxfield Farmer

Isaac Scoggins (1799-1889) was a child of ten when his parents died. He became a successful and well known farmer in Laxfield. The farm is on the map even today. He married Mary Ann Stanford in 1822. After studying the Wills of Mary Ann’s grandfather and father it appears that Isaac married into a well to do farming family living in Walpole with lands in Cookley and Badingham. Mary Ann was only seventeen at the time and was with a child. They were married after Banns which is not customary when the ages of the couple are under 21. The Will of her father, Samuel, verifies the relationship. The census records verifies her age and birthplace. To complicate the matter, her grandfather was also named Samuel and lived to 1826, but he did not mention Isaac Scoggins as his son in- law in his will. Issac was the eleventh child of fourteen children born to William Scoggin and Ann Habbald. Isaac Scoggins and Mary Ann Stanford had eleven children. The wealth he acquired was passed on to his children.

Newspaper account of Coroner's Inquest

I was checking the Online British Library catalogue for death entries of my most recent additions to my family tree. One might assume that an ordinary person would not be found in a county newspaper. Newspapers report coroner’s inquests. Years ago I found a short entry in the Carlisle Journal in 1845 for my ancestor, John Ridley.

“On the 9th instant, at Brampton, on the body of John Ridley of that place, nailor. He was carrying upon his back a bag of coals, and he turned to rest himself against the wall, when he fell to the ground and instantly expired; Verdict, Natural Death”

One might ask why would there be an inquest for an old man that died carrying a bag of coals. One of the grounds for an inquest was a sudden death. Accidents were the most common reason. Previous to now it was not practical to read the fine print in newspapers to locate such instances. With an every name index it becomes an easy task. I found an account of Robert the son of Clement Rogers and Sarah Scoging in the Ipswich Journal published on August 21 1875 . This account has all the details one would want to know plus more.

ASHFIELD: Sudden Death. - An inquest was held before C.C. Brooke, Esq., coroner, on Tuesday last, on the body of Robert Rogers, shoemaker, Ashfield, aged 57, who was found dead in a barley field, at Monk Soham, and was carried to his father's house at Ashfield. - Maria Pepper, wife of Thomas Pepper, of Monk Soham, said; last Friday afternoon, the 13th inst., about four o'clock, He ate a very hearty tea, and left about half past seven in the evening to walk home. The deceased has for some time been wandering in his mind, but was sufficiently well to take care of himself. He complained that his breathing was short. - James Parker, labourer employed by Mr. Edwards, of Monk Soham, said; Last Friday evening shortly after eight, I saw the deceased lying on his face across the footpath in a barley field. I raised him on one side. James Hammond was with me, and we found he was dead. Assistance was obtained, and deceased was ultimately brought here.- Mr. George Fletcher, surgeon, of Earl Soham, said he saw the deceased last Friday night, between nine and ten o'clock. He had since made an examination of the body, and found the heart slightly diseased, and one portion of the brain much diseased. - The Jury returned a verdict of "Death from natural causes"

The Ipswich Journal covers East Suffolk. The British Library’s online collection does not cover every area. For instance it does not have the Carlisle Journal where I found John Ridley in 1845. If they have a newspaper in your area of research then you are in luck. The next step in the process is to seek out the actual coroner records which may be found in Record Offices.

Wesleyan Methodist Church Records

I have made progress in locating Sarah Scoging (1795-1842). She married Clement Rogers in 1817 in Earl Soham. Earl Soham is about five miles from Badingham where Sarah was born. The connection to her parents William and Ann Scoggin could appear to be in question since she died before the census of 1851 when birthplaces were recorded. I have searched through many online trees where she is recorded. There is one that connects her to Clement Rogers. Some of the trees consider her to be Rebecca Scoggins who was born in this time period. Rebecca is not in the parish registers of the area. She married a James Nichols in Bruisyard in 1823. They are definitely two distinct woman. A search of the IGI shows 34 entries for the 10 children Clement and Sarah are known to have had. A few of the entries note that the baptisms came from a Wesleyan Methodist church in Framlingham. I identified the registers in the library catalogue. I went through the baptismal register very carefully and to my surprise I found that the registers were quite detailed. In the 1820’s and 1830’s there is a preprinted form that allows for the entry of the parents of the mother of a child. Her parents were recorded as William and Ann Scoggins. This leaves little doubt that she is indeed the daughter of Willliam and Ann Scoggins of Badingham. There is a monumental inscription in the Earl Soham Church Yard that has been transcribed as follows; Sarah wife of Clem Rogers 21 Feb 1842, age 42. The burial register notes her age as 47. Clement Rogers was a cordwainer, shoemaker, and farmer of 42 acres. When he died in 1877 he left an estate valued at £300. The baptism records of the Wesleyan Methodist Church yielded much more than I would expect to find in a Church of England record and even civil registration after 1837. It may not be apparent in the IGI that you are looking at a Church record other than the Church of England.

1911 England Census

I have been searching the 1911 census for over a month now. I have the luxury of having access to it at the Family History Library in Salt Lake. The stark difference between this census and other censuses is that each page only contains one household whether it is one person or ten or more. Prior censuses made it quite easy to see the neighbors since there are 25 people to a page. I have seen a number of errors in the indexing of the census. It is obvious why this is the case. With 25 people on a page it is possible to learn the handwriting of the writer. With one family on a page there is very little to compare the writing with. It does have some details that prior census did not record, such as, how long married, how many children and how many still alive. It also goes into some more detail on occupations. Searching the index is free. It may be necessary to get creative in entering search parameters. If I don’t find what I am looking for I enter a first name with the birthplace and age; leaving out the surname. It also costs about $4.50 to view the image and another $1.50 to view a transcription. That is a steep price to pay when comparing it to other online databases. I sure hope the price becomes more in line with other databases. http://www.1911census.co.uk/

Thomas Scogings a Woolwich shoemaker

I have been going through the census records of Thomas Lay and Mary Scoging. I now have gone through the census records of their children. I have made a connection to another brother of Mary Scoging. I found Ambrose Lay living with Thomas and Hannah Scogings in the 1841 census of Woolwich. Ambrose would be his nephew. His age in the census puts his birth about 1776. Thomas Scoging and Elizabeth Loyd (Lord) had a child before their marriage in 1776. The Otley parish transcript mentions a child being baptized after their marriage. This it appears is the same child born to Elizabeth Loyd before the marriage named Thomas. I think I need to buy the Otley parish registers from the Suffolk Record Office as the research is taking me in that direction.

Thomas and Hannah Scogings had a child recorded in the 1841 census named Abigail. I did not find Thomas and Hannah in the 1851 census, but I found Abigail with her husband, George Smith, living at the same address. Abigail was born about 1821 in Woolwich. The civil registration indexes do not record the death of Thomas and Hannah. It may have not been recorded. I have determine that Thomas was a shoemaker and established resident of Woolwich. The last record I have him in is an 1845 directory of Woolwich I need to search Probate records to see if I can find him prior to 1851. I have found a marriage in Bedfordshire in 1805 between Thomas Scogings and Hannah Evans in 1805. There are more questions than answers. Now I have a location to search and more records to uncover.

Suffolk Ancestors

Thomas Scoggins and Elizabeth Lloyd had 11 children between 1777 and 1800. I have just discovered the marriage of Mary their daughter who was born in 1796. Mary was the last one to be discovered. I have accounted for all eleven children now. Ten of them survived to adulthood and married. William I believe was killed in the Napoleon Wars in 1815. Their average age at death was 77 years. Elizabeth and Deborah lived to near 100 years old. It must be assume that our ancestors lived to old age unless we can prove otherwise. They all remained in East Suffolk except for Richard who lived in London. The Ipswich Journal reported the death of Deborah. Some of the facts do not jive with what the records say.

Ipswich Journal; Feb 8, 1889: Whitton: Death of a Centenarian. Last week there died at Whitton an old lady who had reached the patriorenial age of 100 years, named Deborah Baker. The widow of Thomas Baker, a carpenter of Claydon. Mrs Baker who was the daughter of a small farmer, named Scogings was born at Badingham in November, 1788 and was the youngest of thirteen children. The old lady had been a widow 45 years and had eleven children of whom only three survive. Mrs. Baker retained the use of her faculties to within a few weeks of her death. and could also sew, &c, three months ago. She was a small woman active very simple in her manners and mode of living, and it is said a total abstainer for many years. Mrs. Baker was related to Mrs. Edwards, of Baylham, who has attained her hundredth year.

The most important clues in identifying them came from the census records. The fact that Scoggins is a relatively uncommon name and they lived to the census years when the parish of birth was recorded became invaluable clues. English research is a challenge in that death records do not record that parents names. Marriage records after 1837 only record the father’s name and those before 1837 only record witnesses. Mary mentioned above married in Little Blakenham in 1816. That is about 20 miles from Badingham. It is only three miles from where her two other sisters, Deborah and Elizabeth married and lived. A witness at Mary’s marriage was Robert Fenning. Robert Fenning is the husband of Elizabeth. It becomes obvious that we must search for clues in every record we can find. Relying on parish registers alone is not enough.

Church Records

I am often looking at church records of England. I could not do much research without them. As the nineteenth century marched on it becomes apparent that the Church of England was not dominating the religious scene. I am finding fewer of my ancestors in the parish registers as the century moves on. I can find them in the census records and civil registration indexes but not in the parish registers. Few post 1837 nonconformist records have been filmed. Civil registration started in 1837 and becomes the source for documenting people at a price of about $11 per certificate.
After 1876 it is not possible to view Swiss records. Their closure policy is currently at 135 years. That really puts a damper on finding cousins. If they want people to find a new excitement about researching in Switzerland they may want to make that a 80 year closure policy. Those church record before 1876 can be purchased on CD.
I find it interesting that I can find filmed LDS Church records prior to 1907 for members of the church in Switzerland, but in Utah I cannot find them. 1907 appears to be the year that the church started a new record keeping system. Of course there were many fewer members to keep track of in Switzerland than Utah. My great grandfather, Gottfried Jaggi, joined the Church in Switzerland on February 25, 1889 and there is a record of him and for every member of the Solothurn branch going back to the 1850’s. For members of the LDS church anywhere in the world there is a church census that was taken at 5 and 10 year intervals between 1910 to 1960.